


The Rules

by LibertinePast



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: CPR, Daniel whump, Drowning, Kidnapping, M/M, Torture, Whump, caretaker Johnny, lawrusso
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:40:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24683971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibertinePast/pseuds/LibertinePast
Summary: An alternate ending to Pulpo.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso & Johnny Lawrence, Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 9
Kudos: 91





	The Rules

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if this is kind of far-fetched, but when I need to get Daniel whump out of my system, it's just something I have to exorcise onto the page without much concern for realism. And when KK3 throwbacks are involved, who cares, right? LOL.

Daniel watched his car pull up to the front of Don Corazon’s, driven presumably by the valet. 

Presumably.

The moment the tinted driver window went down, a rush of cigar smoke hit his nose. The stun gun prongs went into his neck, the accomplice ghosted out of the backseat and made the acquisition. It was done long before the drunk patrons stumbling out of salsa night would’ve noticed a thing.

Muscles that prided themselves in their memory had none, his blood turning to acid as he went limp on the backseat floor. He tried to hijack his own control panel and make a fist, with thoughts of squeezing Johnny’s hand rhythmically--once, twice--but he passed out.

Johnny and Carmen had already torn away in the Challenger, and Amanda was in the lot, chatting up an employee about the latest wave of defectors to Cole’s.

Amanda heard tires screech and looked back to see the A4 speeding down Sepulveda. “Babe?” jumped up in her throat, panic dulling it to almost a whisper.

  
  


Carmen kept glancing at Johnny as he drove, wondering where their goodnight would go. Inviting him in, not inviting him in? She wondered what her mother would do, but that was probably the wrong move. 

Johnny was thinking about squeezing Daniel’s hand.

_“Good grip.”_

_“Wish I could say the same.”_

The pulse felt like it could slice another fortune line in the palm of his hand. That made up for the shit grip. 

He thought of bumping elbows on the dance floor as he was watching Daniel’s steps. He’d stopped looking at his own feet,at least.

Johnny’s little Erickson phone chirped on the center console and he fumbled around. “Amanda L.?” he mumbled at her name on the screen.

“Oh, we exchanged numbers! I put it in your phone too, we _have_ to hang out with them again sometime.”

He sighed and picked up. “Speak--”

“J _ohnny, Daniel’s gone!”_

“The fu--what? What do you mean he’s _gone_?”

_“The valet wasn’t the valet and he took off and the car went screeching down the street and I saw smoke coming out of the driver window and the sidewalk smells like cigars,” she said, finally swallowing a teary breath._

Johnny’s mouth fell open and he heard his own foolhardy words: Kreese is gone for good. 

_“It’s the bloody knuckle guy, isn’t it? He put out a cigar in one of the bonsais at the dojo, it has to be him—.”_

Johnny nodded jerkily as if she could see. “Yeah, it’s him.”

“ _I called the police, but I thought you could get to him first. What the hell do you think this guy wants? Oh God, It’s probably as lame and stupid as ‘close the dojo or else’, isn’t it?” she sniffed._

The sad part was, he might’ve wanted nothing at all. Sometimes Kreese just liked to watch people squirm like worms in ashes. “Whatever it is, he’ll have to get through me. I’ll find them.”

  
  
  
  


The green back room of the dojo had an undeniable smell. Sweat socks, ammonia, probably even the lingering slap of Armand’s cologne. When he came to, he thought his limbs were still jellied from the stun gun, but he was tied to a chair. He strained against the ropes. Normally Daniel would consider it a compliment that he was tied so securely, like it was an admission of how dangerous he was. Right now, he was too woozy to appreciate it.

The first thing that formed in his jumbled vision was the COBRA KAI NEVER DIES stenciling on the dark wall. He tried to curse, but there was duct tape over his mouth, so it dissolved into a muffled groan.

“Evening, sunshine!” Kreese grinned. “Not the first time I’ve seen you with a handicap, but when it comes to your mouth, it’s an even more welcome improvement.”

Daniel’s eyebrows, however, were speaking volumes.

“I gotta say, you were much easier to nab than Noriega. Your blood alcohol level did most of the work. You really shouldn’t drink so much, son--are you trying to block out some bad shit?...” He drifted closer. “I’m sure you remember some of mine...”

Kreese’s fingers were in the air, poised to pinch his nose, which lost all its innocence when your mouth was taped shut. “That Miyagi humor, it’ll kill ya’,” Kreese smiled, watching Daniel’s widening eyes as his fingers got closer. 

A horribly familiar laugh rose up in the darkness, that high-pitched, feral laugh.

They were both laughing like hyenas now, and Daniel grunted and wondered if his mind was disintegrating. This couldn’t be happening.

Silver had the same oily grin, only with deeper clefts in his cheeks, and the same radioactive glint in his eyes. Still towering over him. Making it all the more surreal, he had actual metallic hair—not white, not gray, but the color of liquid mercury.

“Danny boy, I’m feeling so emotional right now. I can’t believe you’re finally a man. Let me help you wax that upper lip. ” He ripped the tape off his mouth and Daniel’s whimper made Terry cackle again. 

“That was a thing of beauty, but you’re probably gonna regret taking it off,” Kreese sighed. 

Little lines of blood outlined Daniel’s mouth, still sticky with the adhesive. “....that’s a cool motto on the wall...ripped off the Goonies, but who’s checkin’, right?”

Terry was regretting it already. “That’s ‘never **_say_ ** die,’ dipshit.” 

“Close ‘nuff. What d’you psychos want? Money? Probably not a lot in the toxic waste dumping industry anymore, huh, Mr. Silver?”

Terry laughed again, but lower this time. “I prefer the term ‘plastic relocation.’ I’m simply a branch of Amazon now.”

Daniel blenched. No, it wasn’t money. “...so Kreese is still spongin’ off you, then.”

“It’s called friendship, LaRusso,” Kreese said. “Loyalty. Everything I had with Johnny again, until you poisoned him against me.”

“Him kickin’ you out had nothing to do with me.”

“Bullshit. You got into Johnny’s head with that “a Sensei elevates’ crap,” Kreese went on. “Little by little it wore him down, and now all of a sudden you’re going on double dates? You’re going to convince your new buddy that dropping me is a mistake, or else, well...I’ll let Terry handle the _or else.”_

“....how about you both fuck right off,” Daniel said, glaring at them. 

“Then let the Quicksilver method begin,” Terry grinned. “You remember the three rules...don’t you Danny?”

“Aw, look at that, I already can’t stand up. Kinda rigged if you ask me.”

Terry yanked the chair up by the back and thrust it forward. Daniel’s face hit the floor, square on the nose. The bone felt like it exploded on the concrete floor. Blinded by tears and choking on blood, check. The two older men whinnied with that horrible laughter again.

“I think that’s the fastest rule number three has ever come to pass,” Kreese snorted.

Daniel groaned, his head turned to the side, blood-tinged water running down his face. “...I’m not... telling Johnny to let you come back…” he spat. “You’ll hurt him worse than anything you can do to me.”

“Sounds like you’re already having rule number two with that broken nose,” Kreese said as Daniel coughed. “But I want to see a lot more.”

There was a metal stock tank in the corner, only filled with about a foot and a half of water. Terry plopped Daniel’s chair upright in the tank, tipping, tipping it back but not letting go, watching Daniel’s chest jumping up and down in anticipation. “Would Johnny Lawrence do this for you?” Terry hissed.

“I don’t care.”

“Oh, how noble.”

“Why don’t you let me out of these ropes and see which one of your stupid rules you can pull o--”

Terry dropped the chair and Daniel was flat on his back in the shallow pool, water rushing up his nose. He clenched his eyes and turned all his focus to his lungs, which were barely full from being in mid-sentence. _Why can’t you ever shut up,_ he cringed, trying not to jerk forward and waste energy, knowing that they could do this for a very long time without killing him. The more the pressing issue of his breath overcame him, so did the image of Johnny’s face. _What he does to Johnny’s mind will be worse,_ he repeated to himself, a grunt bubbling in the water.

Terry yanked the chair up and Daniel sputtered and gasped. Terry watched him heaving and Daniel met his eyes defiantly. “...i won’ lie to Johnny….”

The chair was slammed backwards again.

Kreese was enjoying the show until he heard something and headed for the door. “The hell was that?...”

Johnny kicked the door in and lunged for Kreese with a wild spin kick. 

He didn’t see Terry in the corner, or Daniel pinned in the water. 

Terry slammed a small kwaiken dagger into Daniel’s shoulder, watching him burble and struggle not to inhale. The last thing he could see before his blood clouded the water was Silver rushing off. Everything dimming, he heard Silver’s muffled “ _Aizzah_!” A fight. Johnny? The blood-tinged water was seeping past Daniel’s lips and the surface was so maddeningly close. Oxygen, then Johnny were his last thoughts before he blacked out.

Kreese was on the floor and Johnny had Silver by the collar. Johnny’s rage had steadied him in a way it never had before in a fight. “I’m gonna ask you again, _where_ is LaRusso,” Johnny growled with blood running from the corner of his lip.

Terry was laughing very softly. “Why do you think I let this rumble go on for so long? I was on _his_ timetable, or...lack thereof. Why don’t you go look in your kiddie pool?”

Johnny butted his head and Terry joined Kreese out cold on the floor. 

He stumbled for the stupid stock tank he’d yelled at Zarcharian to get out of this room weeks ago, but Kreese insisted they keep. “ _Seems like a perfect tool for humiliation— maybe some more cement training.”_

Daniel’s hair was levitating and he simply looked asleep at the bottom.

Johnny was chanting _,_ “No, no, no, Daniel, no,” as he dragged the chair out of the red water. “Don’t be a pussy.” He slammed it down upright, hoping it would trigger a coughing fit, but the only movement he saw was the kwaiken falling from Daniel’s shoulder in a pool of diluted blood. “Fuck!” Johnny struggled with the bonds, trying to see through the water in his eyes, to saw through the thick ropes with the slippery dagger. “I’m sorry, Daniel, I’m sorry.” When the rope finally fell away, Daniel’s lifeless body slid into Johnny’s arms and he lowered him to the floor, shaking him gently.

"...please make this quick,” he shivered, tipping his head back. He didn’t pinch his nose—it looked broken. He sealed his open mouth with his own and pushed one breath into him, then another. His arm jerked a little. “C’mon asshole, don’t be a tease,” he panted. He pumped his chest and blood wept from his shoulder. Johnny gasped and fumbled to put pressure on the wound, but he needed both hands. Without a pulse, did losing blood even matter? “Don’t do this!”

He wouldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t die, because he was the only one who really understood. 

Johnny gave him one more last resort kiss and Daniel arched up and coughed violently, water spurting all over Johnny’s black button down. Johnny went slack and rolled him to his side, patting his back. “That’s it, you got it. It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

Of course, Daniel was trying to talk as soon as he’d gasped a few times. “....i won’lie to Johnny, you can torture me allyouwant…..” he shuddered with his eyes closed, curled in a ball.

Johnny was struck. “...I-it’s me, idiot.”

“.....johnny…” Daniel trembled with relief and slumped on his back, looking up like it was the second coming. “....y’took down both of them at once? Aare you ok—“

“Do you ever stop talking, LaRusso?? Shut up and do your breathing shit. Let me tie something around that shoulder.”

Daniel relented, slow and focused, as Johnny knotted one of the wet ropes around the wound. Daniel barely flinched, and looked up in a confused haze. “.... did you give me mou—”

“Yes, and it stays in this room. C’mon, we gotta get you to the hospital.” His first thought was to throw him over his shoulder, but he hoisted him in his arms instead, leaving the green room and the nearing police sirens.

  
  


Daniel waited for Johnny to tell him not to get blood on his upholstery, but he didn’t. Johnny was silent, but kept glancing at him in frustration as he drove. “So those two overdramatic has-beens kidnapped you just to tell you to tell me to take Kreese back? Was this shit written by a sixth grader?”

Daniel sighed, looking out the window. 

“Well next time, just go along with it and don’t get mouthy. What the hell happened to self-defense?”

“It’s also about defending others.”

 _“_ I wasn’t the one with my head underwater, jackass!”

“John, I’m not gonna explain it right now.”

“Don’t give me that ‘John’ crap.” He thrust the Erickson in Daniel’s face. “Here. Call your wife. And thank _her_ for all this. She’s the one who told me what happened, and I knew Kreese would take you to his little Romper Room. The cops were probably out looking under a rock.”

After being lost in thought for a moment, Daniel called her and reported the bare minimum. The call was full of tears and “ _babe_ ’” and " _I knew Johnny would know what to do._ ”

When Daniel hung up, he was silent again for a bit. “You should call Carmen.”

“Yeah...I pretty much dropped her off like ‘later, going gangbusting.’” 

Daniel laughed a little and coughed, still tasting metallic water….maybe a little beer. “Listen, I--”

“You look fucking pale. I don’t know how much blood you lost in the water---”

“It’s not like I’m tryin’ to suck it up and go to Disneyland here, alright, we’re going to the hospital. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll buy you a churro when this is all over, how bout that.” 

  
“.....Johnny....I’ll never find the right words...”  
  


“LaRusso, I know you think you have to say something all deep about it, but you don’t. Besides, what you did…...no one’s exactly ever done something so galactically stupid for me.”

“....I’d do it again.”

  
  


The silence overtook them both, and neither knew how to surface from it. Beyond their control, they were clasping hands on the center console, and Daniel’s grip--even with a stabbed arm--was stronger than it was on the curb of Don Corazon’s.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
